Neb. man sues ex-wife for putting recorder in toy

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - An Omaha man has filed a lawsuit accusing hisex-wife and former father-in-law of hiding a recording deviceinside his daughter's teddy bear in order to spy on him. The lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Omahaclaims Dianna Divingnzzo and her father, Sam Divingnzzo, tried touse the audio recorded by the toy in the divorced couple's custodycase. Dianna Divingnzzo had been awarded sole custody of the younggirl when the couple divorced in May 2004, but William Duane Lewtonwas seeking custody rights. The lawsuit says Lewton learned about the audio recordings whenhis attorney was given copies by Divingnzzo's then-attorney inadvance of a June hearing. Lewton's attorney, John Kinney, said Tuesday that it's believedthe teddy bear recorded several hundred hours of conversations fromjust before Christmas 2007 through mid-May. Lewton, his daughter - who is now 5 - and five other plaintiffswho were recorded by the bear are requesting a jury trial. Theyseek $20,000 each, plus other damages and court costs, from eachdefendant for invasion of privacy and violation of state andfederal wiretapping laws. In addition to the Divingnzzos, the lawsuit names DiannaDivingnzzo's former attorney, William Bianco; his law partner,Chris Perrone; and their Omaha law firm. Perrone said Tuesday that the firm no longer represents DiannaDivingnzzo. He also said he and Bianco did not know about therecordings until Divingnzzo presented them. "We had nothing to do with it," he said. "We did not adviseher to do so." But according to the lawsuit, Bianco consulted with Perroneabout the legality of the recordings and determined they would beadmissible in court. During a June 3 hearing in the custody case in which therecordings were discussed, Judge David K. Arterburn ruled that theyviolated Nebraska's wiretapping law and couldn't be used asevidence. No telephone number was listed for Dianna Divingnzzo. A messageleft at a number for Sam Divingnzzo of Papillion was not returned.

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